Time Out!

My mom came to visit today. One of the first things she asked me was “So, isn’t it hard having so little to do all of a sudden?” And strangely enough, I found myself answering her in a confirming manner. For the longest time, all I wanted was some time off, now that I have time off, I don’t know what to do with it.. Granted, I try to make the best of it: I work some, write on my resume and am trying to piece together a “draft” for future applications, I’ve even taken to cleaning and cooking regularly.. But still, there’s just so damn much free time and I can’t help but feeling weird and/or guilty for spending it just goofing off when I feel like there should be something constructive I could be doing instead.. God I hate that feeling!

But, eh, like I said, I try to make the best of it and find things to do. As a result, I’ve cleaned out the pig sty that my home had become, I’ve started prepping my job search, I’ve cooked dinner for the weekend without knowing of the people I’ll be spending it with even wanted me to do that.. And I’ve been around, had a few beers, made a few plans, sometimes too many plans for myself to remember and I’ve been off my ass drunk a few times.. Usually some of these things have coincided, such as getting off my ass drunk and making plans I couldn’t remember. Like last Saturday at the Uboat where Michael and I may have had one or two beers too many and I start chatting Tina up very enthusiastically not only making plans about hanging out the day after, but apparently also about hanging out on Monday and having dinner together and stuff. The first part of these plans I do remember and we did have a very nice Sunday hanging out at Dunkel’s, having dinner and watching movies.. It wasn’t till late in the evening when I was walking Tina home and she asked what time I’d be over the day after (Monday) that I got a little confused and went “Heh? What?”

Now, as much as I constantly tease Tina, I will have to give her a lot of credit for being damn cool about a lot of the really outrageously stupid things I pull off every now and then.. Such as, say, making great plans with her in a state of intoxication and blankly forgetting all about it. Now, I know a lot of people who would (rightfully) have been very upset about such behavior.. Tina, on the other hand just shot me a smile and started shaking her head and giggling at my being a dumbass. I do understand she cuts me a little extra slack on account of our special friendship, but still: kudos to her for not ripping my head off

As it turns out, the plans I had very enthusiastically proposed to Tina involved us hanging out, getting some sushi and generally having a good time. Which, I must say, was one of the better ideas I’d ever gotten while intoxicated, and I wish I’d have remembered it well enough to be able to take credit for it! But since it was Tina who related the idea to me on a dark street on a Sunday evening, it all felt more like her idea. But eh, regardless, I was more than up for it and went home to sleep on it.

I woke Monday at around 7:30 AM. For the record, this may be the first time since Tina and I went to Brussels this spring that I have been up before 8 AM. It was a struggle, but it had to be done. Apparently we had a real estate agent coming over to take a look at the house and as such I couldn’t really be in bed sleeping when he needed to check my part of the house. Or, well, as it turned out, I could as he had apparently seen the house before and did not need to take a look at my quarters.. Happy joy!

Oh well, due to the bright and early start to the day, I managed to get a lot of work done even before noon when Tina and I stuck our heads together and figured out that maybe, just maybe, we should invite Zascha along for our sushi adventures of the evening. Which, of course, we did. Only Zascha couldn’t make it to Kolding, so in a split decision, we decided that if Zascha couldn’t come here then we’d go visit her at her parents’ later.. Later meaning at around 1 PM, about an hour after we’d gotten the idea.

So, at around 1 PM, Tina dropped by and borrowed my internet while my landlord and I plus a few of his friends finished thrashing around the apartment looking for things that needed fixing before the house could go on sale. We then set off in Tina’s little car towards the fair town of Juelsminde, blasting a bit of heaving fucking metal along the way. The drive was rather smooth and uneventful, with us only being in mortal peril like once along the way. We arrived about an hour later and was greeted by Zascha, her little dog, Micha, her mother and her grandmother.. All of which are great people, save Micha who is a great dog!

We joined Zascha and her mother in the kitchen for coffee while Zascha’s grandmother set off to mow the lawn. I kinda figured I should’ve asked her if she needed help, but on the other hand I was a guest and I understand she’d just been through a major operation plus recovery and probably needed to keep herself going. I hope no one was upset. Anyways, catching with the girls was nice even if I was a little outnumbered and had problems getting my point across in various situations because apparently I have a history of disagreeing with both Zascha and Tina for the sheer sake of disagreeing and apparently they capitalize and punish me for that when they have me outnumbered. This, of course, is hardly fair.. But there you go.

After coffee and discussions and heated arguments about this and that (including why I shouldn’t marry neither Tina nor Zascha), we decided to head out for a while and check out the sights and sounds. This led to a fun-filled trip around the town of Juelsminde by both car and feet and a lot of recollections of the good times that were had by all during our previous visits. As it turns out, a lot of drunken fun was had in a lot of different places and getting to revisit those places proved both a nostalgic and fun experience.. I’m not entirely sure why, but a lot of the stories seemed to revolve around Christian and I either getting really drunk or doing something really destructive in this or that place.. Ah memories!

We returned to Zascha’s parents’ place a few hours later and when we did, her father had returned from work and her mother had dinner at the ready. Tina and I had originally planned to return home and get sushi for dinner but since Zascha’s mother had already counted on us for dinner and we’re not really the kinda poor students to turn down free food, we decided to stay and have dinner with the family. Staying proved a good choice. Not only had Zascha’s mom made creamy tomato soup for dinner, she’d also heated some salmon/potato/leek casserole leftovers and made Zasha’s dad get a few beers out for us. Speaking of Zascha’s dad, have I ever mentioned that the guy is a complete riot? He really is the kinda guy that will give you all sorts of shit and hardships, but in no demeaning manner whatsoever. Since that’s pretty much how I work as well, he and I usually have a pretty good time together – mostly on my behalf, though, but that’s okay, I’ll live. This time around, we may have ganged up on Tina a bit, though, something that didn’t make her all too happy as she seemed to think that we should stick to just trashing each other. But regardless, I’m pretty sure a good time was had by all.

After dinner, Tina and one too many insults or instances of name-calling, Tina and I got ready to drive back to Kolding, made our goodbyes with Zascha, her parents and ye little doggie and got back in the car, homeward bound, singing along to Stone Sour as we drove. When we returned, we went to Tina’s, grabbed a beer, did some silly, crazy planning for next weekend, the details of which can’t be related here, had another beer and a few laughs and decided to watch a few episodes of “The Big Bang Theory”.. Good times indeed!

At a little past midnight, I was finally cracking under the strain of having been up way too early for my liking and excused myself seeing as Tina, too, was starting to look a little worn down and tired. I made my goodbyes with the little one and went on my way home where I arrived absolutely exhausted at around 12:40 AM, only to find that I (of course) couldn’t sleep as my mind was racing with all sorts of weird thoughts about the future.. Lovely!

It had, however, been quite a lovely day although I barely got anything constructive done. I guess I do owe it to myself to take half days off every now and then.. Right?